1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a household laundry dryer and more specifically to a lint storage system for a dryer.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the most common problems with household laundry dryers is the lint handing system. Most dryers include a removable lint screen through which lint laden air exiting the dryer is directed to pass. This screen acts as a filter and removes the lint from the exiting air to avoid undesirable lint discharge through the dryer exhaust.
Unfortunately, clogging of the lint screen can lead to poor drying performance and dangerous operating conditions. Accordingly, the operator of the dryer must manually remove the lint screen and frequently clean it, in some case after every dryer cycle. This lint screen cleaning task can become tedious and cause inconvenience to the user. As a result, attempts have been made to improve the lint handing system to provide a lint storage system such that the operator of the dryer does not have to frequently remove and clean a lint screen.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,081,555 discloses a lint separator which includes an air swifter to separate lint from the exhaust air flow and a transport tube connected tangentially to the swirler to receive the separated lint and carry it to a disposable lint collection filter bag. Periodically, the lint bag is replaced with a new filter bag. While this system eliminates the need for frequent lint screen cleaning, it has the disadvantage of requiring the purchase of disposable lint storage bags. This system also does not lend itself to a simple visual system for indicating when the lint bag needs to be replaced.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,492 discloses a system for automatically cleaning a lint screen and transporting the removed lint to a storage chamber. Preferably, a circular lint screen has a vacuum arm rotationally movable over a lint accumulating surface of the screen. Lint from the screen is drawn into a shaped opening in the vacuum arm as it sweeps over the screen surface and is then drawn through a vacuum blower system and into a lint storage reservoir. This system is relatively complicated and costly. Moreover, it is relatively difficult to neatly remove lint from the lint storage reservoir.